ASHEVILLE - A judge has sentenced a London Road man, Robbin Michael Finley Jr., to more than seven and a half years in prison for heroin trafficking.

Finley, 32, was sentenced Monday by Buncombe County Superior Court Judge Marvin P. Pope to an active prison term of a minimum of seven and a half years to a maximum of 10 years. That is according to a release from District Attorney Todd Williams.

Finley was also ordered to pay a $100,000 fine and court costs.

In March Finley was arrested with what police said was more than a quarter of a pound of heroin. He was charged with trafficking, possession of up to half an ounce of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a stolen pistol and possession of a firearm by a felon.

“Officers with the Asheville Police Department began to investigate Finley’s residence on London Road after multiple neighbors complained about high foot traffic and a crime was reported at the home," Williams said in the release.

The district attorney said the police found probable cause to search the home. Inside they found the heroin plus $1,100 in cash.

More than a decade ago Finley was convicted of robbing Hector Contreras, who helped spark the revitalization of downtown by opening the convenience store Bonnie's Little Corner with his wife Bonnie Contreras in Pack Square.

In West Asheville, the couple turned a run-down corner on State Street east of Interstate 240 into a thriving businesses center worth almost $1 million and were awarded the Minority Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2002.

Contreras was leaving the store H&B Grocery the night of Dec. 3, 2003, with $3,000 from the store when he said some men approached him in the parking lot. He locked himself in his car and they fired three shots into the vehicle. When he tried to get out, they pushed him into the ground, dislocating his shoulder and taking the money.

Finley, then 18, was convicted of armed robbery, robbery with a dangerous weapon and discharging a firearm into occupied property.